Monday, February 17, 2014

As for my situation living in a city with no extended family whatsoever and few friends who can look after Zoe in an emergency (with a few wonderful exceptions), I'm the luckiest mom in the world: Zoe is virtually never sick and if she it, it is a 2 day cold with a 12 hour fever at the most. I really drew the long straw when it comes to her health and her ease with new babysitters. So when I got sick two days before Zoe's dad was leaving for a week long conference I panicked slightly. It was not just a simple cold but one of those headache-filled, coughing until you are blue in the face, not able to think, colds. It is going around and I already knew that Zoe's daycare was badly hit with many teachers sick. In fact it seems that Zoe has had an early version, and gotten over it very quickly.

Sunday I got up to take Zoe to dance class and meeting with a friend of ours for lunch. As I brushed my teeth in the morning, trying to stand up, I realized I was not going anywhere. Or, if I was, it was not for long. My friend luckily agreed to go with us and after dance class he generously offered to take her for the rest of the day, they were going to bake a cake. This is a friend I really trust with Zoe and I couldn't be more relieved. He brought her back in the evening with both cake and chicken soup for me.

Zoe curious about the pumpkin behind the drapes

Today was more complex. Because of all the teachers being sick at daycare I couldn't really send Zoe over there when I was home myself, and my level of thinking/working was still at around 20% because of my cold. In the morning Zoe watched 7 shows of something that seemed educational and then we went to the tram museum, a museum where I can take bus 66 right outside our door, to right outside their door, where Zoe could go on the mini-train, eat ice-cream (after a lunch of bread with Kalles) and go inside all the real busses and trains. It was relaxing enough for me and Zoe just thoroughly enjoyed wandering through it all. The bonus was when a lady in strange clothes asked us if we wanted to see a test-run of her children's theater show, premiering tomorrow. Theater for free. Zoe was excited and seemed to understand most of "The Enchanted Pumpkin". On the way out she asked to buy something in the museum shop and again I have a magic child: Of all the Brio trains and other expensive big toys she asked for a little ticket clipper and two ticket strips, totaling 25 kr. "I'm so lucky Mom because you are sick. I can have everything!", she said as we put on our jackets and ventured back out to the bus. She fell asleep on my lap on the way home to a bit more tv, then dinner and bed. Not a bad sick day for me.

About Louise

I am a scientist in a small interdisciplinary field where conferences are the prime outlet for research. My work has led me to live in three different countries as an adult (not including my native Denmark), mostly the US and I still travel a lot for work. Zoe was born in Southern California in 2010 and has traveled more than 300,000 miles until now, accompanying me at conferences, meetings and even job interviews. At the moment I share my time between Copenhagen (where I work), Stockholm (where Zoe goes to school) and New York City (where my heart is).

About Zoe

Zoe was born in May 2010. She is a triple citizen: United States (through birth), United Kingdom (through her dad) and Danish (through her mom). She had her first passport when she was just two weeks old. She is bilingual and fluent in both Danish and English. She divides her time between her mother in Stockholm/Copenhagen/New York and her father in Stockholm.